REVIEW: ‘Ninja Kamui’ Episode 6

Ninja Kamui Episode 6 makes it really easy to be frustrated with this series. When you cut past the nonsense, there’s a lot of promise in Ninja Kamui. The direction is often superb, at least when led by Sunghoo Park. The designs of this world flourish when taken out of the initial drab settings and thrust into the hyper-tech, futuristic world of AUZA. But for all the promise and the inherent skill baked into the series, there’s no way to get past the dated, agitating nature of the show. In Episode 6, directed by Masataka Akai, the series drives another nail into its coffin with an unnecessary death.

We learn quickly that the lieutenant who rescues Higan (Kenjiro Tsuda) in Episode 5 is Emma (Yuki Waka.) Known as Aska in the organization, the episode is little more than an exposition dump to catch us up on her character. Meanwhile, the organization searches the city for the two while Higan is healing. There are interesting threads in the storyline, such as what prompted Emma/Aska’s involvement, but it all happens so quickly and all at once that it fails to stick. We’ve barely gotten to know Emma in the past episodes, making her revelations and death while trying to protect Higan meaningless.

Aska informs Higan of many things. No, Mike (Atsushi Ono) doesn’t know her true nature, and yes, she was assigned to work in the FBI to gather intel on Higan. Aska tells Higan that he doesn’t stand a chance of defeating the organization without using an armored suit. While escaping, she stole their model, the Kamui. Higan must directly synch up to the suit with neural pathways to function. Doing so ensures that the actions of the suit tether to his will. But to do so, he must go into a deep sleep for the procedure, and it’s here where we get one of the cheapest moments of exposition of the whole episode.

Because conveniently, Aska was there the night Higan’s family died. She was the one who rescued him and allowed him to survive what should’ve been death. She’s the voice of the secret benefactor who guided him through the city. Enraged, Higan demands to know why she didn’t save his wife and son and why he was left to live on with the turmoil of that loss. It’s not until her final moments while fighting Lil to save Higan that we learn the answer. She and Higan’s wife, Mari (Yuriko Hino), were friends once. Aska was indebted to Mari after the latter saved her life and was racing to their home to save all of them when learning about the ambush. She was too late to save Mari or their son, so she kept her promise to her friend to ensure that Higan lived on.

We get snippets of Higan’s backstory with Mari, such as when she confides that her belief in the ninja system is to bridge temperaments. To be as cold as fire and as hot as ice. These moments of insight that he goes on to use, plus Emma’s sacrifice, would work better had the series established a sturdier foundation. Instead, when Higan mourns his family, it always cuts to the same two scenes. This story has no interiority, no heart or soul anchoring it.

This is now the second woman in Higan’s life to meet a brutal death for his narrative momentum. Maki and Emma existed simply to act as conduits to Higan’s greater story. That and other rampant, reductive stereotypes and offensive tropes leave a sour taste. If even the story had allowed more time in the past with Mari and Emma as ninjas, the series might’ve sidestepped the toxicity of “fridging.”

But it doesn’t. And, to make matters worse, Ninja Kamui Episode 6 doesn’t even land the same action punches. The designs of the armored suits are ugly, and the fight scene between Emma and Lil lacks cohesion. For a series built on the fluidity of motion and vital action set pieces, this, at the very least, needs to be the area that sticks the landing. Instead, it, too, comes across as clumsy and disjointed. If the armored suits will be an integral part of the series, here’s hoping the rest manage to find the same balletic grace as other mech-based action series are capable of.

Ninja Kamui Episode 6, like the rest of the series so far, is frustrating. While the cliffhanger teases up an anticipated showdown between Higan and Lil, the show lacks anticipation. Aside from the carnage and bloodshed, it’s forgettable, and even that, when relied on too much, grows stale. Like Higan, the series needs revitalization and new life to make the back half worthwhile.

Ninja Kamui Episode 6 is available now on Max.